These days, anyone can buy a surveillance camera for less than $60 at most big box stores.

"It makes me a little uneasy," said Pearl resident George Vickers.

"I don't have a problem with it because they've caught some criminals recently because of surveillance cameras," said Jackson resident Beverly Sykes.

Cameras captured video of a thief taking lawn furniture from a Belhaven porch.

Another camera recorded a woman casing a consignment store in Ridgeland before she allegedly stole a mirrored mannequin.

A camera mounted inside the living room of a Jackson home captured video of bullets flying when a man tried to rob the residents.

"Before I got my cameras put up, there were a lot of flower pots and things like that missing. Once I got my cameras put up, I have not had any problems," Sanders said.

Doug Pennington installs surveillance systems. He said homeowners are now buying high-tech hidden cameras that used to only be reserved for big businesses.

Pennington said he can log in to the system at his house from anywhere just using an app on his phone.

'You know what's going on at your property at all times," Pennington said.

Often, it's easy to spot the cameras if one is looking. There's usually a camera in the doorway of a business, because that's where the cameras can get the clearest shot of someone's face.

But what is becoming even more popular, are the cameras that no one knows about. 16 WAPT News spoke to a private investigator who didn't want his face shown on TV. He showed West the BrickHouse Security website, where anyone can buy alarm clocks, pens, even coat hooks equipped with hidden cameras.

"There's a lot of ways to hide a camera," the investigator said.

The technology was the basis for the George Orwell book and movie, "1984." It depicts a community where everything citizens do is under surveillance.

Folks West spoke to said they would put secret cameras in all kinds of places. One said she approved of a "nanny cam" in her home. Another said there should be cameras in jury rooms. Still another said he would like to see a camera on the beach.

Security experts believe the surveillance boom is just beginning. Over the next few years, we can expect cameras to become more indestructible, less detectable and with clearer pictures.

There are laws about video surveillance in Mississippi. Recording is not allowed in bathrooms, bedrooms, locker rooms or any other place where one can expect privacy.